Chris Godwin Thread

[Snake]

I really am curious how far apart the two parties are. Godwin plays harder than anyone, so I understand he feels he deserves every cent.

[nybf]

No Tom Brady is going to expose this team in horrendous ways.

[real bucs fan]

How does this protect the Buccaneers

As opposed to locking him up for 5 years fully guaranteed to a guy who’s been injury prone coming off a torn knee?

[King Bootz]

How does this protect the Buccaneers

As opposed to locking him up for 5 years fully guaranteed to a guy who’s been injury prone coming off a torn knee?

What NFL contract fully guaranteed? And at 5 years no less?

[real bucs fan]

As opposed to locking him up for 5 years fully guaranteed to a guy who’s been injury prone coming off a torn knee?

What NFL contract fully guaranteed? And at 5 years no less?

Read Snakes proposal.

[Snake]

How does this protect the Buccaneers

As opposed to locking him up for 5 years fully guaranteed to a guy who’s been injury prone coming off a torn knee?

My proposal was structured that way because the team is already planning on (or trying to) bring him back long-term. Might as well do it in a way that lowers the annual pain so the team can better compete.

teams are looking at ACL‘s as routine procedures. I would be careful with a guy like Godwin, personally. He plays a very physical style of football and has his fair share of touches already.

This is speculation, but I think the team wouldn’t be super happy about paying him $19 million for this season. The cap is just too tight right now. I’m guessing a longer deal is going to spread out the pain and get that number down.

[Dread]

I don't like this move at all.

$19.2M fully guaranteed to a player who likely will not be fully healthy to start the season.

And the Bucs still don't have him locked up despite guaranteeing him 35.2M over 2 seasons.

Just let him test free agency, if he leaves b/c we got outbid so be it. That's what is going to happen next offseason anyways.

Unless a long term deal gets worked out prior to the season this will have been a very stupid move for the Bucs franchise. But Godwin has zero incentive to sign anything other than his tag.

Not only do the Bucs suck again, but our front office is back to being shitty also. Hold me @PetePierson

[Snake]

Good WRs are coming into this league in bunches through the draft. Damn near every year. Find one.

[kaimaru]

I mean I kinda wanted to tag Carlton Davis...

Unfortunately reports were that he was not a high priority.

[kaimaru]

I guess by them not having to break the bank just yet on a player who is rapidly heading towards the injury prone label?

Players also lose a ton of leverage post tag. An actual long term deal just became far more likely than it was 24 hours ago when Godwin hitting the market was still, at least technically, a possibility for him.

How is that more likely? We can only negotiate with him until July 15. If we tag him a third time he will get 27.62 million on the third tag. That good money. If we did tag him a third time, he will never re-sign with us. Please explain how this will coerce him. It did nothing to coerce Kirk Cousins.

[kaimaru]

Any word of if this is an exclusive or non exclusive tag?

9 out of 10 tags are the non exclusive. It's extremely rare for teams to use the exclusive tag. Off the top of my head Drew Brees, Josh Norman, Le'Veon Bell are the only guys to recently receive the exclusive tag. Gonna guess Godwin got the non-exclusive tag.

The way some board members say he is better than Mike Evans, I am surprised no one ponied up the 2 1st to sign him away from us last year.

[kaimaru]

Good WRs are coming into this league in bunches through the draft. Damn near every year. Find one.

I am pretty sure they are getting one in the draft too.

[MJW]

I don't like this move at all.

$19.2M fully guaranteed to a player who likely will not be fully healthy to start the season.

And the Bucs still don't have him locked up despite guaranteeing him 35.2M over 2 seasons.

Just let him test free agency, if he leaves b/c we got outbid so be it. That's what is going to happen next offseason anyways.

Unless a long term deal gets worked out prior to the season this will have been a very stupid move for the Bucs franchise. But Godwin has zero incentive to sign anything other than his tag.

Not only do the Bucs suck again, but our front office is back to being shitty also. Hold me @PetePierson

Well said.

I'm glad Godwin will be a Buc next year for sure. But the price was very high (if not literally, in terms of what we're going to have to sacrifice this way) and we're going to be in the exact same spot again next year.

[real bucs fan]

I would rather over pay in 2022 when we will be starting Gabbert or Trask and save that cap for 2023 myself.

[MJW]

I would rather over pay in 2022 when we will be starting Gabbert or Trask and save that cap for 2023 myself.

We didn't save anything. We're going to be in this position again next year, with Godwin looking to sign a huge contract. We've paid him $35 mil the last two years without any long-term security. If we'd signed him to a 5 year deal last year and frontloaded that $35 mil, we'd be sitting pretty now.

There are really only two possibilities - Godwin wants a number we're deeming unreasonable, or someone fed Jason Licht after midnight and he's turning into the guy who cut Darrelle Revis to turn a 4th Round Pick into a 3rd Round Pick (and then draft Charles Sims with the 3rd Round Pick.)

[IronDog]

That's what I told myself back in '03. Next thing I know, nearly 2 decades of mediocrity followed.

Mediocrity would have been an improvement.

[CannonFire]

I don't know how true that is here with Godwin. I think a possibility that some may be overlooking is that Godwin may sit out and pull a LeVeon Bell. He's not an RB. WR's hold their value a lot better than RB's, so Godwin has a very strong case for sitting out the season and waiting until next year to cash in. Being 15 months post ACL surgery would be very appealing to other teams, knowing that he's definitely healed and ready to go. The Bucs current cap situation/team makeup, makes it very important that Godwin plays this season. If they get hit with a $19M cap hit for a guy that never plays, that does not bode well for the 2022 season.

I don't see the upside of Godwin, or anyone else for that matter, sitting out a season.

The goal for any rational actor is to maximize their income. The best way to do that is to stay relevant in one's industry, in this case football.

In order to land that monster contract next year, either with the Bucs or with somebody else, he needs to do the following:

- Prove he's healthy
- That his play hasn't suffered from his injury
- That he's still a willing contributor to his team

If Godwin returns next year and balls out, he accomplishes all of those goals. If he sits out for selfish reasons, he accomplishes none of them.

The smart move is to play ball if you can. That's why most players coming off injury don't try playing those types of mind games. Sitting out isn't some next level move -- it's self-defeating.

I think that depends on the player, and not a cut and dry stance. LeVeon Bell didn't have a problem getting a big deal after sitting out a season... and let's be honest, there were a lot of questions about RB's and their durability after logging so many carries. There was also the stigma of maybe he's just suited for the Steelers type of offense.

Godwin isn't that kind of guy. He's not system dependent. He's also not speed dependent. He's a great route runner with great hands and plays a position that doesn't take the beating like other offensive positions. He's generally getting hit by guys smaller than him.

Sure, coming back and balling out would do wonders for him, but coming back and forcing himself (or being expected to be), on the field, could lead to a repeat injury or another injury and making him even substantially less valuable. From a "business" standpoint, it's probably in Godwin's best interest to sit out the year and be 100% recovered for the 2023 season than it is for him to be 80% and play in 2022.

[King Bootz]

Fun Trivia time!

*Did you know Chris Godwin's fully guaranteed $19.179mil BASE SALARY is the 2nd largest 1 year BASE SALARY in Bucs history? Can you people name the player with the largest BASE SALARY without looking it up?

[Snake]

Revis? All I remember is that it was $1 million a game and none of it was guaranteed. So weird.

[King Bootz]

Revis?

Nope

[mdb1958]

He retired the next year?

[mdb1958]

guard

[Dread]

Fun Trivia time!

*Did you know Chris Godwin's fully guaranteed $19.179mil BASE SALARY is the 2nd largest 1 year BASE SALARY in Bucs history? Can you people name the player with the largest BASE SALARY without looking it up?

Brady?

Or maybe Jamiss on his franchise tag in 2019?

Those seem too obvious for a trivia question though.

[Dread]

Carl Nicks?

- based on mdb hint

[real bucs fan]

I recall the Jameis tag being 25M

[mdb1958]

Faine

[King Bootz]

I recall the Jameis tag being 25M

No you don't.

[King Bootz]

@Dread hinted to it but was right. Jameis in 2019 had a base of $20.9mil. His 5th year option.

[acmillis]

@Dread hinted to it but was right. Jameis in 2019 had a base of $20.9mil. His 5th year option.

Sort of OT, but did I read correctly that LB is one position for a franchise tag, but for 5th year options, there is OLB and ILB?

[King Bootz]

@Dread hinted to it but was right. Jameis in 2019 had a base of $20.9mil. His 5th year option.

Sort of OT, but did I read correctly that LB is one position for a franchise tag, but for 5th year options, there is OLB and ILB?

I think OLBs are considered EDGE players now.

[real bucs fan]

I recall the Jameis tag being 25M

No you don't.

The 25M tag was never used as we signed Brady. Thought Jameis was here for 6 years for some reason. Felt longer than that tbh lol

[acmillis]

No you don't.

The 25M tag was never used as we signed Brady. Thought Jameis was here for 6 years for some reason. Felt longer than that tbh lol

You crazy. JW was only here for five seasons as we dumped him (read - didn't re-sign him) after his fifth year option year resulted in 6549874651 turnovers.

[real bucs fan]

The 25M tag was never used as we signed Brady. Thought Jameis was here for 6 years for some reason. Felt longer than that tbh lol

You crazy. JW was only here for five seasons as we dumped him (read - didn't re-sign him) after his fifth year option year resulted in 6549874651 turnovers.

Yes I’m aware. There was a ton of talk about tagging him or not for the next year and that’s where I recalled the 25M number.

[Doctor]

Oh noes, we paid Godwin $32M over two years! Boo hoo.

Wake up. That's a bargain. It really sucks he got hurt last year but there's a reason people around the league and not just on this board say he's better than Evans (not me), there's a reason our staff loves him (I do too), and a reason its so hard to sign him.

Yesterday's price ain't today's price.

Don't kid yourselves we're running an offense with two #1s. The market price for a #1 today is $25M/year. Adams will push for $30M. Mike Williams is at $20M. Only two WRs finished ahead of Godwin in catches per game, Kupp and Adams. Five WRs ahead of him in yards per game.

[Doctor]

I guess by them not having to break the bank just yet on a player who is rapidly heading towards the injury prone label?

Players also lose a ton of leverage post tag. An actual long term deal just became far more likely than it was 24 hours ago when Godwin hitting the market was still, at least technically, a possibility for him.

How is that more likely? We can only negotiate with him until July 15. If we tag him a third time he will get 27.62 million on the third tag. That good money. If we did tag him a third time, he will never re-sign with us. Please explain how this will coerce him. It did nothing to coerce Kirk Cousins.

Coerce is an interesting word choice.

Cousins took the gamble and won. Great for him. Doesn't stop making it a gamble.

The onus is on him now. If he wants to cash in now we're his only option, if not he has to risk it all in another year. He isn't going to sit it out. Which means he's at risk of going out there and getting hurt again or playing but having a down year.
We've just become his only ticket for cashing in big, for sure, today.